Courtesy Williams Sports Information

Box Score

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williams College women’s basketball team combined the three-point sharp-shooting of junior co-captain Colleen Hession and sophomore Meghan Stetson with tenacious defense Saturday en route to a thorough 81-44 defeat of Middlebury in the quarterfinals of the New England Small College Athletic Conference Tournament in front of Chandler Gymnasium crowd of 254.

Williams improved to 19-6 with the victory, while the Panthers season concluded with an 11-14 record. The Ephs move into the NESCAC semifinals, hosted by top-seeded Bowdoin, which defeated Trinity today 59-45. Williams will play either Bates or Amherst in the semifinals. No. 5 seeded Amherst defeated No. 4 Wesleyan, 55-53, today.

Hession led all scorers with 21 points while Stetson added 16 and Ephh sophomore Maggie Miller netted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Middlebury’s lone senior and leading scorer, Elyse Carlson, was held to four points by Stetson and Eph reserve Ellen Wilk. Maryanne Verzosa paced the Panthers with nine points.

The game got off to a sluggish start, with Williams leading 14-2 after 10 minutes of play. But the Ephs ended the half on an 8-2 run as Stetson — who scored 13 of her 16 points in the opening stanza — nailed a three-pointer with four seconds left to send Williams into the locker room at the half, 37-21.

The Ephs opened the second half with a 16-2 run, sparked by three-pointers from Hession, Stetson, Wilk and Hession again, which gave them a 30-point lead, 53-23, with 14:44 to go in the contest.

Williams shot 43 percent from beyond the three-point arc in the game, 6 for 14 in each half, as Hession finished 6 of 13, Stetson 4 of 10 and Wilk 2 of 5.

The Panthers struggled on the floor, shooting just 31 percent (18 of 58) for the game and only 4 of 17 from three-point land. They were out-rebounded by a 52-16 margin.